Rep. Kelly: Libya got security cuts; Vienna got Chevy Volts

posted at 5:21 pm on October 11, 2012 by Erika Johnsen

Does anybody else find it kind of fazing that House Democrats really tried to blame Republican budget cuts for the inadequate security situation in Libya? Because, as Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) pointed out in the Washington Times yesterday, it doesn’t look like the State Department is exactly down to bare bones on their budget allocations — they just have particular priorities about where to spend their money.

In a May 3, 2012, email, the State Department denied a request by a group of Special Forces assigned to protect the U.S. embassy in Libya to continue their use of a DC- 3 airplane for security operations throughout the country. …

Four days later, on May 7, the State Department authorized the U.S. embassy in Vienna to purchase a $108,000 electric vehicle charging station for the embassy motor pool’s new Chevrolet Volts. The purchase was a part of the State Department’s “Energy Efficiency Sweep of Europe” initiative, which included hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on green program expenditures at various U.S. Embassies.

In fact, at a May 10 gala held at the U.S. embassy in Vienna, the ambassador showcased his new Volts and other green investments as part of the U.S. government’s commitment to “climate change solutions.”

While the embassy in Vienna was going green, the consulate in Benghazi was getting bombed, and little was done to stop it.

Ahhh, yes — it is of the utmost importance that every department stay eco-hip and have their own special “green-ifying” trophy initiatives. Climate change, you know.

As Rep. Kelly argues, this raises some serious questions about the State Department’s spending priorities. Maybe it seems like a small expenditure, but should the “Energy Efficiency Sweep of Europe” program really be receiving funding when other security threats aren’t receiving full attention?

Also, we learned last month that the federal government is beefing up the Chevy Volt’s sales numbers, as the Department of Defense plans to purchase them in an effort to “green up” their military; a.k.a., yet another way the taxpayer is directly aiding GM and their electric poster child. Apparently, the Pentagon isn’t the only one — it looks like the State Department has been helping the Chevy Volt’s sales, too.